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From: <bob@hottub.demon.co.uk>
To: "BritDisc" <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>
Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 15:52:16 +0000
Subject: Re: Time Out article
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Paul Hurt <paul@ultimatum.demon.co.uk> wrote:

> Here's another media person who obviously thinks Frisbees are stupid per 
> se. So I'm not sure that a response from an organisation whose job it is 
> to promote all games played with "flying discs" will carry any weight 
> with him. It will probably simply confirm his suspicions that we're all a 
> bit sad ("My god, they even have a British Frisbee Federation...").

I think Paul has a point here. The problem is that any response from 
any disc enthusiasts is going to come across as very "train spotter", 
basically because anyone who's enthusiastic about *anything* always 
comes across as "sad train spotter".

Disclaimer: I am using the phrase "train spotter" because it is a 
common phrase to describe a particular cultural stereotype, not 
because I particularly wish to malign train spotters.

I've come across this sort of negative inaccurate stereotyping with 
other activities I've been involved in e.g. morris dancing (hands up 
everyone whose immediate thought was "a bunch of pansies waving 
hankies in the air", "which one's morris" or some other media 
inspired stereotype).

One danger is that any letters / emails of complaint will simply form 
the basis for next weeks article. As Paul also said:

> Not a particularly nice thing to do, but insulting people is what
> these opinionated writers get paid for it seems.

Having said all this, I think at least some effort should be made to 
inform him of the facts. I want to send him a ranting email as much 
as anyone but I think a polite, factual letter from BFDF or BUF might 
achieve more. What about inviting him to a practice session 
somewhere?

Ah well, my first post to Britdisc and I manage to insult train 
spotters and completely destroy whatever street cred I might have had 
:-)

Bob

 
----------------------------------------------------------
-- Bob Archer      bob@hottub.demon.co.uk